Peter Olmsted wants to change the perception of executive search.
As the managing director of Clark Schaefer Executive Search, a division of Top 100 Firm Clark Schaefer Hackett, and a 15-year veteran in the executive search industry, Olmsted acknowledges that the function has a reputation.
Due to lifelong recruiters, "Executive search gets a bad name," he explained. "If I had the opportunity in the future to change how people view executive search, I want to do that. Our clients have a different view than others. Many people get a bad taste in their mouth because [the recruiter] doesn't know the business they are in."
Officially launched in 2022, Clark Schaefer Executive Search is in the business of placing C-suite executives and other positions over $150,000 in salary in a variety of industries, though Olmsted estimates that roughly half of the roles are for chief financial officers. This specialization differentiates CSES from competitors, Olmsted explained, not only in the narrower focus of higher-level executive roles but in his team's depth of expertise.
He compares CSES's approach to the typical process.
"Everybody goes about search the same way: a lot of search engines, then soliciting that person," he shared. "If that person is truly exceptional, the other company desperately doesn't want to lose them. We reach out, and 10 other agencies are calling — how we stand out is an eight-page document of all these details of this role, what the next promotional role might be. We get their attention; it's professionally written and well done."
Making a plan
This comprehensive document is an example of the detailed approach accounting firms should take when seeking to retain their people, Olmsted recommended, or risk losing them to firms that will offer more — and not just in compensation.
"To attract people that other, competing accounting firms don't want to lose, give them a plan for their career," he advised. "A lot of companies will say, 'Jennifer is great, wonderful, about the best person we have up and coming.' Then I ask, 'What plan do you have to keep her?' The answer is usually, 'She knows we're thinking about X position a year or two from now.' That's not a plan. When I call as an executive search professional, and Jennifer doesn't have a plan, she's going to talk to me."
While Olmsted doesn't find placements for accounting firms, the job candidates he does work with speak to either him or the two other professionals on his team, all of whom provide "white glove executive search services, doing everything we can in helping clients figure out specifically what clients need," he said. "Chief financial officers as an example — we help [organizations] define what a great CFO does versus a good CFO. We get into the details of their strategic plan and what they need to do in the next few years and how the position can impact that. Where are you going to look to find an individual to do that? We help onboard the person as well. And sometimes we help exit an individual if someone is underperforming."
That last service can be especially beneficial for business leaders to outsource, said Olmsted.
"Sometimes we find the CEO has a difficult time pulling the plug — [the CFO] helped them get from $20 million to $50 million in sales, but they can't take them to $500 million, or they are their friend. It's hard to make that decision, so we hold a mirror up … Let's say they said they would double the business in [a certain timeline]. Do they have a strategic plan to get there or is it gathering dust on the shelf? We ask, 'How many years did you know the CFO isn't keeping up?' The typical answer is two years."
CSES currently focuses on placements in Clark Schaefer's home state of Ohio, along with Michigan and Kentucky, but announced an expansion to Tennessee and Indiana, with other states planned in the near future. As of March 2023, the practice had placed 18 C-suite-level executives in the past year.
Taking action
Olmsted expects that number to keep growing, as his team is determined.
"We fill every position, unlike other firms that fill in certain positions, we don't. We don't stop … In every single search we do, we do take on our shoulders with the right candidate, to make a meaningful, hopefully transformational difference."
Successful (and long-term) placements are the group's ultimate goal, but that's not the only way they measure their impact. Olmsted recounts one client who could never take a day off of work: "He could never go on vacation with his family. One of the inventory things I took is he wants to spend more time with the family. [After the placement] he said he took two months at a house in another resort city; two months with his entire family off. That was after working with him for a couple of years."
That measure of success demonstrates the changing job priorities and benefits that candidates are seeking beyond higher compensation.
Continuing his story of hypothetical sought-after job candidate Jennifer, CSES would give such a prospect a roadmap: "In July of next year, the plan is to promote you to this position, with the stipulation that you continue performing, and we'll move you in that role," Olmsted explained. "You need that detailed plan, with a time to it, a reality to it, and by the way here is the compensation range. When I give Jennifer all that information and Jennifer hangs up on me — that's what you want. To keep the Jennifers and the great people you have, make sure the plans are real, especially for the top 20% of performers. If you want to recruit people, executive search professionals and internal recruiters understand the importance of having a plan. When I call Jennifer, I have a plan."
As for his plan to change the perception of executive search, Olmsted points to the practice's growing client base and success in closing new business.
"In almost all new client meetings where they haven't signed with us yet, they are looking at two to three search firms and start off with a negative view of executive search," he shared. "Our job is to partner with them, get them to open up to start planning their business plan. We are purely getting to know clients and being genuine. People do open up over time. When we get a good audience with the CEO, we close business about 80% of the time."
